Reavers (Book 3) (54 page)

“Because after they had a base set up, they attacked Jeirude first.  There are hundreds of planets between the two points, and most of them make far better targets.  On almost every account, there is a world that is closer to the Reavers that would have made a better target than Jeirude.  More people, fewer defenses, more resources and even one with more cattle.”

“So why did they attack Jeirude then?”

“Myself,” Brent said with a frown.  “Even though all those other worlds were superior to Jeirude, the Reavers attacked my home - the one place in the galaxy where I was
sure
to be located.  Only a handful of beings knew that fact, and one of them just happens to have gone missing
before
the Reavers showed up.”

“So what does that mean for us here?”

“It means the Reavers won’t listen to reason.”  He sighed.  “If I’m right, Seventh is behind this.  He actually believes he is a god and has no doubt convinced the Reavers of that too, or at least brainwashed them to the point they’d willingly attack all of humanity to bring me down.  He’s no doubt shown them what he can do, and they mistook technology for magic or godliness - you did say they were slow.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Zia asked with obvious trepidation.  “I’m one of them.  Don’t you think I’m on their side?”

“The thought had crossed my mind, but I dismissed it.  You’ve come from Hellacus, which is on the other edge of the Commonwealth all together.  More than that, the details don’t fit.  You showed up two years ago, with a perfectly normal looking personnel file.  From that point on you’ve been a loyal trooper who’s gotten dozens of commendations by the base commander and have not once tried to access any data even remotely useful to an invasion.  These Reavers, on the other hand, tried to sneak in without being detected and started killing every human that got close once they were found out.”

Zia let out a long sigh of relief.  Brent couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?” she asked defensively.

“I can feel your emotions, remember?  I admit I don’t understand them all, but it seemed like you were worried I was going to cut you up into tiny bits and study you or something.”

“Frank has a thing for horror 3Ps,” she said shyly.  “I hate them, but he likes them.  Some of them are more terrifying than I thought was possible, but I endure them for him.”

Brent chuckled at the thought.  Suddenly he went silent and his eyes widened.

“You said the Reavers were slow,” he said deliberately as he thought.  “Do they grasp basic emotions, ones
I’d
understand?”

Zia nodded hesitantly.  A wide
wicked
smile filled his face.

“You’ve got a plan?” she asked hopefully.

“Indeed I do.  Turns out all this time I’ve spent with Cain will pay off after all.”

Frank rose to his feet and slugged Brent clean against his chin.  The blow knocked him off balance, but he didn’t fall over.  Frank hesitantly moved in front of Zia as he stood slowly and rubbed his chin.  Diana and Morio held their breath as the Weaver studied the young man.

“
Much
to discuss,” Brent said as a smile filled his face.  “You might share Mr. Springate’s name, but you certainly lack his tranquility - although you both punch
way
too hard.”

The stealthy trooper raised an eyebrow as he looked at him.  Penny chuckled at Mister Sneaky being called into attention.  Brent walked toward the communications terminal and opened a link with all the ships in the fleet.  He was surprised to find his body didn’t ache at all after talking with Zia.  Either he was getting better at his odd abilities or she had aided him somehow.

“This is your current commander,” he said as he prepared to ask the unthinkable.  “You’ve all followed me this far, and I’m sure most of you have figured out we aren’t doing too well.  Truth is, we are doomed.  If we run, the enemy will swarm over us, and none will survive.  If we stay, they will slowly advance on us until we run out of missiles.  All I can ask is you follow me just a bit further.”

“This is your party,” Rosalyn said as she muscled in on the transmission.  “Let’s go out with a bang.”

“I’m glad you feel that way, because what I’m about to ask is going to be a hard pill to swallow.  When I give the signal, I need every ship to cease-fire and move away from the enemy moon at full speed - no jump drives.  I need you all to make it look like you are fleeing, without actually fleeing.”

There was a long drawn out silence as no one dared to respond.

“You’ve got a plan, sir?” Dante asked at last.

“I do.”

“Then that’s good enough for me.  We’ll be ready for your signal.”

One by one, the other ships signaled they would comply.  Now the stage was set - time for something
theatrical
.

“Are you ready?” Brent asked Zia as he sat back down in the captain’s chair.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said, obviously nervous.

Frank stared at her in alarm as she left his side and stood next to him.

“Cassandra, I won’t be able to give the signal myself,” he said as she steadied himself.

“Why not?” she asked, concern filling her.

“Don’t worry; I won’t be killing myself.  After all, I have two kids to raise with you.  It will take far more than an angry horde of aliens to stop me from enjoying that with you.”

“When do you want us to signal the others for you?” Valerie asked, understanding what he wanted.

“The instant you see
any
hesitation in the enemy ships,” Brent said with a thankful smile.

“We’ll get it done,” Ronald said flatly.

With everything set, he took Zia’s hand and focused.  Closing his eyes, he let his Weaver abilities expand further and further.  First they filled the room and quickly after that, the ship.  He could feel the worry and fear in the crew.  Still, he pushed outward.  In a few moments he had expanded to cover the entire fleet.  Their collective negativity was overwhelming, but still he pushed outward.  Finally, he made contact with one of the V fighters.  The emotions weren’t as complex as Zia’s, but they were incredibly strong.  Each one was as intense as an entire ship of humans.

Still, Brent demanded his abilities to stretch outward.  Even with his eyes closed, a mental picture started to form.  He could see the Reaver ships as he encompassed more and more of them.  They were like glistening beads of dew trapped along a spider’s web, reflecting the light of the rising sun.  He pressed outward as far as he was able.  He had just barely reached the edge of the moon when he found he could take no more.

The Reavers were too intense for him to survive any more of them.  Zia squeezed his arm.  He had done enough.  Brent focused everything he had on keeping in contact with the Reavers as she started.  Using him like a transmitter, she started communicating with the other Reavers.  It was like a symphony of color and sound filling his every sense.  He couldn’t understand any of it, but it was all beautiful.  Suddenly, the colors turned dark, the tones ugly and flat.  The familiar feelings of fear and terror started to fill him.

Primal emotions that were difficult to ignore drifted through him.  The message grew darker and darker.  He struggled to keep in contact with the Reavers as their emotions started to mirror the message.  It was all he could do not to be consumed by the dark and sinister emotions.  Abruptly, the message stopped and he could feel a hand shaking his shoulder.  Focusing his mind, he screamed his thoughts within his head.

“Citadel!”  He shouted in his mind.  “
Jump
!”

High above the world humanity called Lintilä, countless hunks of metal and stone stood opposed.  The might of the human’s fire-blooms devoured the warriors with insatiable hunger, but still they pressed on.  The humans had to be destroyed, no matter the cost - the Divine One had demanded it.  With their fleet of metal gone, the rest of their galaxy would be easily cleansed.  The leaders demanded their warriors fight on.  Victory was in sight.  The metal hulks were weakening. 

The Divine One had promised them victory, and nothing could stop their celestial power.  As the horde of stone clawed deeper toward the metal bulwarks, a song escaped from behind the fire-blooms.  The harmony was joyous and heavenly.  It sang and danced with a beauty previously unobserved.  Every warrior strained to partake in the wondrous flood.  Abruptly the melody changed and called a warning. 

The bulwarks of metal were not to be trifled with.  Their actions had angered the foreign gods of this land.  The leaders inside their protective shell rebelled against the song, but it was too strong.  The Divine One had failed to warn them of the demons that had dominion over this land.  By killing the prey of those demons, they had awakened an ancient evil.  The song grew louder and sorrowful.  Warriors started to join in the song.  The song climaxed with a final terrified screech - the beast had arrived.

In the black void of space, high above the moon and Lintilä, a single speck of green light burst to life.  In the dark expanse of lifelessness, the point quickly grew without restraint.  Arcs of vengeful lightning ripped out from the expanding point.  The claws of sinister green slashed at existence and carved a massive rectangular stillness of impossible size.  When the stillness reached its threshold, a dark form pressed through the green tear in the night sky. 

Perfectly smooth metal, as black as death itself, pierced the endless night and slowly freed itself from the still pane of light.  Beginning with a razor sharp point, the metal expanded to create an impossibly large obelisk.  Its four perfect edges slowly grew apart as the black form left the churning green tear.  One of the four sides caught the light of the nearby sun, and the multitude of tiny grooves carved in the smooth metal seemed to dance and play with the glinting light.  Sparks and flashes of green light flittered and ran down the grooves along the flat surfaces.  Abruptly, the expanding base condensed in on itself to form a second point. 

As the final sections of the monstrous Citadel cleared the transparent tear, the Wall collapsed without a sound or trace of its existence.  The leaders trembled in fear of the massive black spear as it loomed over their base.  The attention of the leaders left the massive black object for only a moment as the terror of the warriors doubled.  The humans were fleeing.

The humans had stood fast and were prepared to fight to the last of them against the divine power of their foe, but against this thing they had no strength.  The bursts of fire that had consumed so many warriors died to nothing as the metal hulks turned and ran.  Had the Divine One betrayed them?  Was this a test of their resolve?  The warriors begged and pleaded for direction.  Who was the threat?  The leaders hesitated as fear consumed them completely.

Pressing their decision, the Citadel above them began to radiate unholy light.  The leaders watched as the surface of the massive black spear was completely engulfed in green light as every groove in its surface flared with demonic power.  The light pulsed a single time before the thing started to move.  The now dark spear shifted toward him.  Its insatiable hunger had driven it to move on them.   With increasing speed the black spear closed on the moon over Lintilä.

The demon was too powerful to ignore and the warriors received their commands.  The metal hulks were unimportant.  Protect us at all cost, wailed the leaders.  The armada of warriors charged bravely against the demonic black spear.  The speed of the obelisk continued to increase as the warriors hurried to intercept it.  Once again the unholy green glow enveloped the Citadel.

The uncountable specks of light flittering about the countless grooves in its surface began to multiply without end - filling the grooves completely with the unholy light.  The first wave of warriors reached the evil beast and unleashed their righteous fury.  The orbs of dull gray light clashed against the surface of the spear, but left no mark.  Where the orbs impacted, the unholy light in the grooves momentarily grew.  When the light faded, the surface of the Citadel remained perfectly unharmed.

The leaders had to struggle against their terror.  The demon
consumed
their holy light.  Slamming themselves into the spear, the warriors sacrificed themselves for their leaders.  The demonic light grew brighter against the onslaught, but when it faded, the black demon remained unharmed.  The unholy light had surged in delight at their sacrifice.  All hope was lost.  The Divine One had led them into a trap.  On this day they would all be consumed by this vile demon.

“Please wake up,” Cassandra pleaded as she cradled Brent’s limp body.

“Remind me to
never
do that again,” he moaned weakly.

“He’s alright!” Zia shouted in awe.  “I can’t believe he survived that.”

“Survived what?” Cassandra asked desperately as he started to rub his temples.

“I believe the answer to that is right in front of that hunk of meat on your face you call a nose,” Henry said.

They all turned to find Henry facing the main monitor.  Pictured was a Shard Citadel bearing down on the moon.  Everyone backed away from the impossible size of the thing displayed.  From their distance, the moon and the Citadel looked like an impossibly large exclamation point.  Thousands of V fighters were crashing against the massive black ship to no avail.